


Overflow

by KingOfClubs



Series: Voltron Rewrites [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Autistic Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Depressed Lance (Voltron), Drinking, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Has Abandonment Issues, Keith (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) Has Anxiety, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Underage Drinking, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, mentions of abuse, venting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27718759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOfClubs/pseuds/KingOfClubs
Summary: Lance knew that he had been so off lately. And he knew it was worrying the team. Hunk, Pidge and surprisingly Keith. Coran cares a lot but doesn’t know how off Lance is acting, most likely the same is with Allura. It felt odd forcing himself to try and be the happy and joyful Lance that everyone wanted him to be, but people still see through that facade.By off, he spent his whole day in the training room, not eating anything but dinner. Hunk commented on him not doing face masks anymore. Pidge said if he wasn’t training, he was playing video games, he never asked her to play even though he usually does. Allura and Coran have even noticed how quiet he’s been.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Voltron Rewrites [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025310
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	Overflow

**Author's Note:**

> This is another rewrite of my fics! If you remember the old one i removed the end and made it Klance! Enjoy!

Lance knew that he had been so off lately. And he knew it was worrying the team. Hunk, Pidge and surprisingly Keith. Coran cares a lot but doesn’t know how off Lance is acting, most likely the same is with Allura. It felt odd forcing himself to try and be the happy and joyful Lance that everyone wanted him to be, but people still see through that facade.

By off, he spent his whole day in the training room, not eating anything but dinner. Hunk commented on him not doing face masks anymore. Pidge said if he wasn’t training, he was playing video games, he never asked her to play even though he usually does. Allura and Coran have even noticed how quiet he’s been.

Lance found himself in Red’s hangar sipping on some Altean liquor when he heard. Someone called out his name. “Lance?”

“Keith? ¿Por qué diablos no está durmiendo?” he said, trying to sound as sober as possible. He was too lazy to try and speak English, and it was probably Hunk anyway, who could understand him.

“Uh, why the hell am I not— what? Sorry I don't understand.”

“Sleeping,” Lance sighed, taking another sip of the liquor.

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. “Are you drinkin’? What the hell?”

“I found the Altean Vodka, or at least that’s what it tastes like,” Lance took another sip. “So… Did Red snitch on me? Since I feel like that’s the only reason you’d come down here.”

“Yeah. He did, what’s up? I wouldn’t take you for a drinker,” Keith walked over and sat next to him. “Can I have a sip?”

Lance hands over the bottle. “Well, I need to talk to somebody, Hunk’s probably already passed out, Pidge’s also probably deep in her work, Shiro is ‘sleeping’, we all know he’s just closing his eyes trying to sleep, you were training, Allura and Coran were working. And all the other lions would tattle on me. Black, yeah, right, like I’m worthy of talking to him. Green would tell Pidge, since we were teammates before this, same with Hunk, considering we’ve been best friends forever. Blue, I just. I can’t talk to her anymore, and if I could, she’d tell someone. I guess Red did too, I mean, he’s my lion now, I thought I could trust him,” Lance sighed. “I like how I think about all the other lions before my own. Well. Red’s not really mine.”

“What’s up?” Keith took a sip of the liquor, coughing. “Dear God! That’s way too strong. How the hell can you drink this shit man, here just- okay here you take it,” Keith handed Lance the bottle.

“It’s just, I’m a morose drunk — also I often get angry — so I’m just warning you. Funny. I drink when I’m in a depressive mood, but I’m a morose drunk,” Lance laughs, taking a big gulp of the alcohol. “I’ve just been having some pretty stupid thoughts lately. Like, really stupid.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”

“You know… Beta Traz.”

“Lance… that was a while ago, why are you thinking about it?”

“I told you, stupid,” Lance crossed his arms, putting the bottle off to the side, looking down. “I just dwell on stuff, okay?”

Keith, trying his best to comfort Lance. “Talk to me, why?”

Lance took a deep breath and started talking. “Don’t take this the wrong way, please don’t. But I’m sick of living in your shadow. You moving from the waitlist to cargo was what got me on the immediate wait list. You moving to fighter got me in cargo. You washing out in the academy is the only reason I got off of the cargo to fighter pilot. Everyone kept reminding me of this. But they refused to see why I was the cargo pilot that moved up, because I too was the best in my class, I worked hard to move up to fighter class. I really, really did!

I mean for another thing I’m piloting Red for God’s sake! I can change my bayard into some goddamn broadsword! Swords were always your thing! Not mine! I’m the shitty sharpshooter! Just, gah! Why can’t I just be proud of my accomplishments and not think about what others have said to me? People will never ever be proud of me. I have accepted that. I have for a while. But any time I even think of trying to be proud about myself or anything that I have done... ‘Be more like Keith.’ ‘Why can’t you be like Keith?’ ‘May I remind you the only reason you’re here it’s because the top student in your class had a discipline issue and got kicked out’ I’m sick of it! 

I mean, I’m pretty sure I like fucking guys now too! You’re the gay one! I’m the one that’s always lady crazy! I just can’t get out of your shadow. No matter how hard I try. I try and try and try. And I always end up in it. I just can’t escape it.”

“Lance, hey, hey, slow down. It’s okay!”

He does, he takes a deep breath looking at the ground before he starts to ramble again, despite what Keith had asked of him. “I know my purpose. I know it’s important, but — as selfish as it sounds — I don’t feel it’s important enough. There are rare occasions where you actually  _ need _ a sharpshooter. Like, most sharpshooters are multitalented and I guess that’s why I should be happy I also got a sword… but right now all I am is a sharpshooter. Yeah, they can come in handy but they’re not always needed. I can’t get used to the sword in battle, I’ve been trying but it hasn’t been going very well. 

Hunk used to say the best thing about me was my humor. How I would always bring a smile to people's faces but… My jokes may help the team at some points, others they are annoying and pointless because you guys don’t even snicker. It’s like they annoy you so you guys don’t even listen anymore… And Shiro doesn’t listen to me! You listened to me when I was your second in command... and he listened to you when you were his! I can tell he doesn’t trust me enough to be the second in command, but he’s stuck with me because Red chose me! He tells me to just stay out of it, to be quiet or it’s not my call! I don’t know what I did to make him think that, well a valid reason at least. My ADHD doesn’t mean anything, it’s not a valid reason to not trust me. And I don’t really think Shiro is the type of guy to hold that against people…”

Keith moved himself to sit closer to Lance.

“Uh, Keith?”

“Look. Lance this is a lot to unpack—”

“I mean. Why the hell would Red pick me if no one will let me do my job? Since you left, Hunk’s the only one that’ll listen to me. I’ll try and say my idea but no one will listen and we just go with Shiro’s, he’s the leader, he makes all the decisions. Sometimes I wish I was just with Blue still. Nothing to do with the lions, more of the role. I’m not ready to be second in command.”

“Why is that?”

“I’m either not confident enough to say my ideas or to oppose Shiro’s idea or the others don’t listen to me,” Lance muttered.

Keith put his hands on Lances, before taking them away. “Lance. I-I don’t know how to help.

“You don’t need to… I… got.... Fuck… I promised myself I wouldn’t become like my pap á , yet here I am.”

“What? What does that have to do with anything?”

“All I need to do is to hit one of you. I already smoke — smoked and now I’m drinking. Just like he did. My pap á wasn’t a good man, but I got a new one. Who’s much nicer. Wish I got to spend more time with him before this whole Voltron thing…”

Keith’s eyes widened. “You smoked? Your dad hit you? Lance, what’s going on? How… why didn’t you tell me these things?”

“I quit smoking before the Garrison. It was only for a few weeks, I was kinda forcing myself. I dunno. It’s hard to explain. I always saw my pap á do it, and after he left our family, I just… I wish I knew how to explain my logic, but honestly there wasn’t any logic to it. Not at all.  And about my pap á , yeah. Um. My brothers, Marco and Luis, my sister Verónica, they, they were affected more by it. I was actually the best child,” Lance laughs, “he would always say I was the smartest child, never letting my ‘disability’ stop me.”

“I thought ADHD was a disorder?” Keith smiled weakly, placing his hand on top of his lap, trying to fight the urge to touch Lance’s.

“Yeah, it’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but I don’t like the word. I mean, you can consider it a disability. Just depends on the person... but, disorder makes me feel like something’s wrong with me and not that I’m just different,” Lance brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around it. “My pap á abused me in a different way than my siblings. He expected me to be the best. Treated me like the best. Put all these expectations on me and would hurt me if I wasn’t what he wanted. My siblings could get better grades than me and still wouldn’t get his love and affection like I did. I think just because I have a disability he thought I was better, you know the media, always portraying people with ADHD and Autism to be super geniuses in the making.”

Keith sighed. “Yeah, I know, I have autism, so I know the stereotype all too well.”

Lance gave him a soft smile. “So you know what I mean. I… I’m not a genius. But I’m not dumb either. Despite what you guys might think of me…  I just need a bit of help. Like, Hunk, he makes sure to help me when he sees I start getting distracted, and well, the hyperactiveness is just a part of my personality,” he smiled weakly. 

“Lance, you could have told us about this. I of all people would understand.”

“Keith, I promise I wanted to… There’s a lot more to ADHD than people think. And I really didn’t want to have to explain that to you guys. I really had to work and work on how I wanted to tell you guys. And to prepare for any assumptions or questions that you guys might have had. You can even ask Hunk, we worked together on this to try and figure stuff out.

But when I decided I would, that’s when everything went downhill,” he takes another sip of the bottle. “But my pap á was right, I was a smart kid. By twelve, I could name all the planets, dwarf planets, a decent amount of the moons, rings— uh, I knew a lot about subjects I cared about. Still do, but it’s no longer considered cute or smart, it’s called excess knowledge.”

“Dude. I can’t even name all the dwarf planets.”

“Really? Ceres, Pluto, Hauema, Makemake, and Eris. And yes, Pluto is a dwarf planet. Has been for a few hundred years.”

Keith smiled, laughing. “Yeah, I know that,” he shifted his legs, turning to Lance. “Now, don’t try and distract me.”

“You’re as bad as Hunk,” Lance stares at the bottle in his hand, taking another sip. “I’m just, I’m not fine but I’m not terrible or whatever. Y’know, everyone has a bad day, right? It’s just, I have so much weight on my shoulders. I’m seventeen— or am I eighteen? Nineteen? God how long has it even been? I’m not ready for this yet. I don’t even have something that bad.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean? You lost your family just like everyone else.”

“What? I left my family back on Earth! They’re safe! Pidge just found hers and they don’t even get to stay together! Think about how she feels? Shiro can’t remember jack shit! Hunk’s moms are probably worried sick and in turn his anxiety is probably getting worse, plus his severe trust issues! Coran and Allura’s planet and entire race was straight up destroyed! Then you! After being orphaned since you were ten, you found out your half Galra and you found your mother! What do I have to complain about?! Missing my family? Oh boo hoo! Here I am drinking because I can’t get this voice in my head to shut up!”

Keith’s eyes widened. “L-Lance, calm down, it’s okay, we’ll—”

“No, it’s not okay! I haven’t had a panic attack since I was fifteen, I’m not getting another one when I don’t even deserve it!” he said before downing the rest of the bottle.

“Okay, enough of this! Lance, you are the right hand of Voltron! The leader won’t allow you to do your job! Somehow you keep ending up in my shadow or being compared to me! You left your family back at home! Lance, you have every right to feel the way you do. It shocks me that you do since I always wanted to be like you. Well, in the sense of showing emotions. I have such a hard time reading others’ or showing my own emotions. You excel in both. I… I admire that about you,” Keith blushed.

Lance standed up, backing a bit away from Keith. “It’s just this front I put up. None of that is real, Keith. I’m sick and tired of feeling like I don’t matter! I do! I know I do! But Shiro won’t stop! I’m not you! I can’t be you! I’ll never get this second in command thing down! I’ll never get this sword thing down like you do! That’s not my specialty! I am the marksman! I’m pretty damn good at it! He expects me to be you! Not me! And I’m tired of it!” he turned to the opposite direction of Keith throwing the empty bottle against the wall, the shattered glass flew around before he collapsed on the floor and cried. His knees held tightly to his chest, arms wrapped around said knees.

“Lance, I—”

“Why is everyone so blind to my strengths? Why? I’m trying just as hard as everyone! I’m not as smart as Pidge or Hunk, but I’m still smart! I may not be as good at close range as you, Shiro and Allura, but I’m amazing at long range! I’m not as good with this fucking sword—” Lance had summoned the Altean Broad Sword through his bayard, “—but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn!”

Keith runs over to Lance, hugging him. “I don’t know how to explain how meaningful you are, but I can at least try and show it,” he mutters, tightly holding Lance as the bayard goes back to the docile form. “I really care a lot about you, Lance I really really do.”

Lo siento,” Lance didn’t try to hold back his native tongue this time.

Keith sighed, rubbing his hand through Lance’s hair to hopefully calm him down.

“Why are you being so nice to me Keith…”

“I don’t know, you just had a mental breakdown in front of me and shared all your insecurities and hardships, and you’re my… friend.”

Lance sniffled. “Sorry, I sometimes don’t know when to stop talking and sharing about certain things…”

“It's okay, Lance. I want to be here for you. I… I’m not really good at this emotional stuff.”

The Cuban snickered. “No, you really aren’t,” he said through his tears. 

They sat there in silence for a little bit when Lance spoke up again. “Since I-I’m already spilling out all my emotions, I have something to confess…”

“Yeah…?”

“I… like you.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I would hope that you like me. We’ve been fighting in space forever together?”

“That’s not what I mean, Keith…” he played with his fingers, stimming. 

“Then what do you mean…?”

Lance closed his eyes and kissed Keith on the lips. It was a quick kiss, and when he pulled back, he turned bright red. “T-That kind of like…”

“O-Oh…” Keith turned red.

“S-Sorry, should I have not done that? I—”

Keith shook his head and grabbed Lance’s hands. “No, no. Thank you…”

Lance looked up into Keith’s violet-colored eyes, smiling, his face still stained red from all the tears. “S-So…. You like me back?”

“I do… I like you a lot Lance.”

The blue-eyed teen smiled, running his hand through his hair. “Good, I mean, who wouldn’t? I look absolutely fabulous.”

Keith laughed, intertwined his fingers with Lance’s, leaning on top of him.

Lance smiled, squeezing Keith’s hand gently. Finally… After all this time of trying to hide his feelings toward Keith, he actually felt the same way. He spent so much time worrying about his feelings when he could have confessed a long time ago. And Keith would have reciprocated his feelings.

“So does this mean.... We’re boyfriends now?”

“Yeah, I think it does, Keith,” Lance kissed Keith’s hand.

Suddenly there was someone else there, “Lance? Keith?”

The Cuban’s hold on Keith’s hand suddenly tightened a worrying amount.

It was Shiro, he walked up to the two, and smiled.

“Hey, Shiro,” Keith waved with his free hand.

“Hey, Lance. I just wanted to come and see you. You weren't in your room. I wanted to apologize for my actions lately. I think I’ve been way too harsh on you due to a lot of stress. It’s no excuse, but I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately.”

“¡Vete a la mierda, Shiro!”

“Lance!” Keith opened his eyes wide.

“What did he say?”

“I’m pretty sure he just told you to fuck off,” Keith sighed, giving his brother a sympathetic look.

Shiro rubbed his shoulder. “Yeah, I kinda deserve it, don’t I?”

Lance hides his face in Keith’s shoulder still sobbing, whispering apologizes in a mix of Spanish and English.

“Shiro, don’t take it personally. He’s drunk. But, we will talk about this when he’s sober. What you have been doing is so messed up. I can’t believe you.”

“I know. I just— it’s not even worth it. Never mind. Least he won’t butt in tomorrow,” Shiro said coldly walking away.

“¿Ves? Soy un inútil para él?”

“‘See?’ I didn’t catch the rest of that,” Keith questioned the other teen, and when he got no response, he realized Lance had passed out. He pulled up the communicator, calling Hunk.

“Hmmm? Yeah?” the tired boy asks. “What do ya need?”

“Lance got drunk, vented to me and is now passed out in my arms. I can’t carry him, and you’re his best friend—”

“Yeah. I’ll be there. Red Lion’s hangar?”

“Mhmm.”

“I’ll be there in a few ticks, thank god my room is the closest to the hangar doors,” the other said before the call is cut off.

Keith ran his hair through Lance’s hair for a bit to try and calm him down as he was asleep waiting for Hunk to arrive.

Soon enough, the tall teen arrived, walking over. “Lance…”

Lance makes a groaning sound, tightly holding on to Keith’s shirt.

“Here, I’ll take him to his room.”

“Uh, Hunk? Does— does Lance have depression?”

Hunk’s smile faltered, “I… honestly don’t really know. I think he does. But he could just, he’s just really insecure, I guess. He, uh, he tries to act like he's fine when he’s not, but will tell you if you ask. He told me that’s because he doesn’t want people to think he’s lying when he’s telling the truth.”

Keith looked down. “Yeah, okay.”

Hunk carried Lance bridal style into his room. Keith walks quietly behind him, glad Kolivan gave him and Krolia a few days off. Most likely because of family.

Keith stayed in Lance’s room to watch his new boyfriend sleep. It just felt like the right thing to do. After everything that had happened in the hanger. He knew he had to stay and be there for Lance, just like he would stay and be there for him. 

“I love you Lance,” he brushed back the teen’s hair and kissed his forehead, smiling softly to himself. 


End file.
